Charles Berry, 66, was arrested in connection with a 1986 homicide in Virginia Beach, Virginia, according to the Newington Police Department in Connecticut. (Newington Police Department via Meta)
(VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.) — Four decades after a young woman was raped and murdered, a man has been linked to the crime through DNA and is under arrest, according to Virginia Beach, Virginia, police.
“It’s incredibly scary for the community to think that someone who would rape and brutally murder someone 40 years ago was out in society,” Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate said at a news conference on Wednesday.
On May 15, 1986, the body of 22-year-old Roberta Walls was discovered in a field behind an elementary school, police said.
Walls “was a loving daughter, a big sister, a friend to those who knew her and someone that could be counted on in her circle of friends,” Virginia Beach Police Deputy Chief Jeffery Wilkerson said.
Her murder was investigated for decades, police said.
In 2001, a male DNA profile was developed and it was entered into the national DNA databank, but there was no match, police Capt. Michele Wyatt said.
“During the course of the investigation, the DNA of more than 30 males was compared with the offender’s DNA, and all were eliminated,” Wyatt said.
In 2023, the Virginia Beach Police Department received grant funding that allowed investigators to pursue forensic genealogy leads, Wyatt said.
Police went on to identify a “possible suspect who had strong ties to the area during the relevant time period,” Wyatt said, and a “direct DNA comparison ultimately identified Charles Berry as the source of the DNA profile.”
Investigators discovered that Berry was in the U.S. Navy during the time of the murder and was stationed in the Virginia Beach area, Wyatt said.
It appears Berry did not know Walls before the murder, police said, adding that Berry had never been on the police’s radar.
Berry, 66, of Newington, Connecticut, was arrested on Monday, the Newington Police Department said. He’s charged with rape and capital murder in the commission of a rape, the chief said.
“This breakthrough stands as a powerful testament to the relentless persistence of our detectives, who refused to let Roberta be forgotten,” the Virginia Beach Police Department said in a statement. “We hope this closure brings a measure of peace to the Walls family and sends a clear message: no matter how much time passes, we will never stop searching for the truth.”
Berry is in custody in Connecticut and it is not clear if he has an attorney, according to court records.
In this Dec. 3, 2019, file photo, Jack Avery of Why Don’t We performs onstage during 106.1 KISS FM’s Jingle Ball 2019 at Dickies Arena in Dallas, Texas. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images for iHeartMedia, FILE)
(LOS ANGELES) — A social media influencer is accused of plotting to kill a pop singer in an alleged murder-for-hire conspiracy that prosecutors say stemmed from a “bitter custody dispute” over their daughter.
The influencer, 24-year-old Gabriela Gonzalez, allegedly conspired with her father and then-boyfriend to hire a hitman to kill Jack Avery, the father of her 7-year-old daughter, several years ago, prosecutors in Los Angeles County said in a press release this week.
Avery, 26, is a former member of the boy band Why Don’t We, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office confirmed in a press release.
Sometime between 2020 and 2021, Gabriela Gonzalez allegedly sought the help of her boyfriend at the time, 26-year-old Kai Cordrey, to hire someone on the dark web to kill Avery, prosecutors said.
She allegedly repeatedly told one witness that she wanted Avery dead and discussed hiring a hitman and that the “intended killing was discussed as occurring in Los Angeles and being made to look like a car accident,” the warrant for her father’s arrest stated.
Her father, 59-year-old Francisco Gonzalez, was “deeply involved in the custody conflict” and was the alleged source of the funds for the murder-for-hire plot, according to his arrest warrant.
Francisco Gonzalez allegedly sent Cordrey $10,000 back in April 2021 “as front money to use in locating, hiring and paying someone to kill Avery,” the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release on Tuesday.
Two months later, Francisco Gonzalez allegedly sent Cordrey another $4,000 “after the alleged hit man asked for the additional funds,” the office said.
“Several days later, Cordrey allegedly requested that Avery be killed within a couple of days,” prosecutors said.
Cordrey spoke to an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a hitman about the alleged murder-for-hire plot in September 2021, during which he allegedly said Avery was the target and “discussed payment and proof of death,” prosecutors said.
“In a subsequent conversation, Cordrey allegedly told the purported hitman that Gabriela Gonzalez wanted the murder to happen and Francisco Gonzalez could pay for the expense,” prosecutors said.
Gabriela Gonzalez, her father and Cordrey have been charged with one count each of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder.
Gabriela Gonzalez was arrested on Monday and is being held on no bail, online jail records show. She was arraigned on Tuesday. Attorney information was not immediately available.
Her father was arrested in Florida and is awaiting extradition to Los Angeles County. Court records show he is being represented by a public defender. ABC News has reached out to the public defender’s office for comment.
It is unclear if Cordrey is in custody at this time.
If convicted as charged, all three face 25 years to life in state prison.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the FBI began the “lengthy investigation” before the case was turned over to his office.
“This is a case where the defendants are accused of going to great lengths to find someone to commit murder,” Hochman said in a statement. “Most fathers raise their children to respect the law, but here we have a dad who allegedly helped his daughter and her boyfriend break the law in the most sinister way imaginable.”
Gabrielle Gonzalez has nearly 1 million followers between her Instagram and TikTok accounts.
Her father has a law practice in Seminole County. His firm had no comment on his charges.
ABC News has reached out to Avery for comment.
In an interview on “The Zach Sang Show” last year, Avery said two FBI agents showed up at his residence and that “someone hired someone to kill me.” He did not publicly identify any suspects.
He said he was “traumatized.”
“I stayed in my house for like a month straight. I didn’t leave,” Avery said during the interview. “I was so scared. I was looking out my window every night.”
Embers swirl as the wind-driven Bain fire burns up to the exterior fences at the Western Riverside Animal Shelter, May 19, 2026, in Jurupa Valley, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(CALIFORNIA) — Fueled by gusting winds and warm temperatures, multiple large wildfires continued to menace Southern California on Wednesday, prompting thousands of residents to evacuate, authorities said.
As of Wednesday morning, the five largest wildfires had burned nearly 22,000 acres from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
The Sandy Fire
The most evacuations were being prompted by the Sandy Fire, which ignited on Monday in the foothills above Semi Valley. At one point on Tuesday evening, more than 43,700 people were under mandatory evacuation orders or evacuation warnings, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.
The wildfire had grown to 1,698 acres by Wednesday morning and was 15% contained, according to Cal Fire.
Firefighters quickly attacked the blaze from the ground and the air as flames raced downhill in the direction of populated neighborhoods, officials said. As of Wednesday morning, only one structure had been destroyed by the fire, but many evacuation orders remained in place, according to officials.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
While winds were moderate overnight, Andrew Dowd, a Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson, said that the winds were expected to pick up on Wednesday afternoon.
“We’re anticipating right now seeing northeasterly winds in the morning and then early afternoon, from what I have got so far, shifting to the west,” Dowd said during a news conference Wednesday morning. “But we’ll continue to monitor the weather and kind of use that as our guide for where we put our resources and our priorities.”
The Bain Fire
In Southern California’s Riverside County, the Bain Fire was threatening homes in the Santa Ana River bottom in Jurupa Valley, according to Cal Fire.
The Bain Fire was reported around 12:20 p.m. local time on Tuesday and, driven by gusting wind, rapidly spread in the direction of homes, prompting evacuations, Cal Fire said.
Overnight, the Bain Fire grew to 1,375 acres and was 25% contained, Cal Fire said in an update on Wednesday morning.
While no structures were reported lost, Los Angeles ABC station KABC reported that three people suffered smoke inhalation and a fourth was taken to a hospital with traumatic injuries.
The Verona Fire
As firefighters were responding to the Bain Fire, another wildfire ignited nearby in Riverside County, prompting more evacuation orders and warnings, according to Cal Fire.
The Verona Fire in the unincorporated communities of Green Acres and Homeland had grown to 500 acres on Wednesday morning and was 5% contained, Cal Fire reported.
Residents in the area told KABC that three to four homes had been destroyed by the blaze.
Cal Fire posted a video on social media on Wednesday of a towering “smokenado,” or a smoke tornado, that formed as firefighters battled the Verona Fire.
The Santa Rosa Island Fire
The largest fire burning in Southern California is the Santa Rosa Island Fire in the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara County.
While the fire remains under investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard said it was likely ignited by emergency flares fired by a 67-year-old shipwrecked mariner on the island.
The Coast Guard posted a photo on social media showing the stranded sailor standing near a patch of blackened brush in which he had scratched “SOS” in the dirt.
The wildfire at last word was 26% contained after growing to nearly 17,000 acres, according to Cal Fire.
The Tusil Fire
The Tusil Fire, burning in San Diego County, had spread to 1,000 acres and had also forced evacuations on the Campo Reservation, according to Cal Fire.
“Fire activity moderated overnight, allowing firefighters to strengthen containment lines and continue making progress toward full containment,” Cal Fire said in an update on Wednesday.
At least one structure was damaged by the fire, which also shut down the Interstate 8 freeway in both directions in the fire zone on Wednesday, according to Cal Fire. The California Highway Patrol said on Wednesday morning that one lane in each direction of the freeway had been reopened.
One structure was damaged by the fire and some evacuation orders remain in effect, according to Cal Fire.
ABC News’ Amanda Morris, Jenna Harrison and Vanessa Navarete contributed to this report.
Crews repair a sinkhole at LaGuardia International Airport in Queens, New York, May 20, 2026. (WABC)
(NEW YORK) — A sinkhole has shut down one of the runways at LaGuardia International Airport in New York City, prompting cancellations and delays, according to officials.
Crews found the sinkhole around 11 a.m. on Wednesday, while conducting a daily morning inspection of the airport’s airfield, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The sinkhole was located near Runway 4/22, one of the airport’s two runways, according to the Port Authority.
Runway 4/22 was “immediately” shut down, and emergency construction and engineering crews are on site to make repairs, the Port Authority said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is slowing flights into LaGuardia “due to weather and a sinkhole on Runway 4/22.”
“Travelers should expect delays and cancellations, particularly with forecast thunderstorms expected later today, and are strongly encouraged to check directly with their airlines for the latest flight status information,” the Port Authority said.
The airport is currently under a ground delay, with flights departing to LaGuardia delayed an average of 98 minutes.
According to FlightAware, there are currently 197 cancellations into and out of LGA, and 168 delays.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
FBI photograph of redacted documents and classified cover sheets recovered from a container stored in former U.S. president Donald Trump’s Florida estate that was included in a U.S. Department of Justice filing, Aug. 30, 2022. (U.S. Department Of Justice)
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice on Wednesday charged a longtime federal prosecutor with attempting to steal a sealed report prepared by then-special counsel Jack Smith on President Donald Trump’s alleged retention of classified documents.
A grand jury indicted Carmen Mercedes Lineberger — a managing assistant U.S. attorney in Fort Pierce, Florida — with four felony counts for allegedly attempting to steal the report, which has been sealed from public view for more than a year.
Prosecutors allege that Lineberger downloaded a copy of the sealed report onto her work computer and sent it to her personal email account in January of 2025.
According to the indictment, Lineberger renamed the report “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf” before attaching it to an email from her DOJ account to her personal Gmail account.
The report has remained secret since January 2025, when it was prepared by Smith in the final days before Trump’s inauguration to summarize Trump’s alleged crimes. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the report be kept secret after a push from Trump’s lawyers to seal the records, and the Department of Justice under the Trump administration has since fought to ensure the report is never released.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 40 counts of retaining classified information, obstruction of justice, and false statements after Smith alleged he not only kept a trove of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office in 2021, but also actively impeded law enforcement from retrieving them. After months of litigation, Judge Cannon dismissed the case on the grounds that Smith was not properly appointed special counsel.
Earlier this year, Cannon issued an additional order permanently restricting the department from releasing the report. Two legal groups are in the midst of appealing her orders arguing disclosure of the report remains in the public’s interest.
It’s not immediately clear based on court papers unsealed Wednesday if prosecutors will argue that Lineberger intended to leak the contents of the report.
She made her initial appearance in federal court in West Palm Beach Wednesday and entered a not guilty plea to the indictment. An attorney listed as representing Lineberger declined to comment when reached by ABC News.
Former Cuban President Raul Castro speaks during the National Assembly at Convention Palace on April 19, 2018 in Havana, Cuba. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini-Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Wednesday charged former Cuban President Raul Castro with murder over his alleged role in shooting down two planes that were carrying humanitarian aid in 1996, according to a newly unsealed court docket. The shootdown resulted in the deaths of three Americans.
The indictment marks a major escalation in the United States’ ongoing pressure campaign to achieve regime change of the island nation’s Communist-led government, though it’s not immediately clear whether the 94-year-old Castro will ultimately see the inside of a U.S. courtroom.
The indictment charges Castro with seven counts including conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft and murder for each of the four passengers aboard the planes being flown by Brothers to the Rescue, a group that conducted rescue missions for Cuban exiles who sought to flee the country.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and other senior officials are expected to speak about the charges later in Miami.
The Colorado River, located two miles from the entrance of Arches National Park, is viewed on October 3, 2023 near Moab, Utah. (George Rose/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Colorado River basin and its two largest reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — are facing potentially record-low water levels in the coming months due to a snow drought that impacted much of the West over the winter season, projections from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation show.
The 24-month study released by the Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water resource management, on Friday indicates that Lake Mead could reach a record-low level of 1,036 feet of elevation in 2026.
Lake elevations indicate how much water is inside a reservoir. The Bureau’s scenario analysis looks at the end of month elevations for both Lake Powell and Lake Mead, and they make a future projection based on the probable inflow.
The previous low at Lake Mead was recorded in 2022, when levels dropped to around 1,040 feet.
Lake Mead could again approach these critically low levels over the next several months and years, according to the Bureau. This would depend on both the climate conditions as well as the response to those conditions, Dave White, director of the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation at Arizona State University, told ABC News.
Lake Powell is also projected to drop to a new record-low level in the coming months, surpassing the previous record of around 3,520 feet set in 2023. The amount of water flowing into the lake between April and July is forecast to be around 800,000 acre-feet, the lowest flow on record and only 13% of the average for that period, Cody Moser, senior hydrologist at the Colorado River Basin Forecast Center, said during a webinar on May 7.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell are the largest reservoirs in the U.S. Together, they store about 80% of the water supplies in the Colorado River system, Mark Squillace, professor of natural resources at the University of Colorado, told ABC News.
More than 40 million people rely on the river system for water, according to the Bureau.
Apart from actual water supplies, one of the biggest concerns for hydrologists is whether enough water remains in the reservoirs to operate hydropower systems. Another 2.5 million people are supplied by hydropower conducted in the Colorado River’s hydroelectric facilities, such as the Hoover and Glen Canyon dams.
The minimum surface elevation needed to generate power at the Hoover Dam is 1,050 feet, according to the Bureau. Anything below that is considered “inactive pool,” and a “dead pool” exists at 895 feet in elevation.
A “dead pool” is when water won’t flow to a dam and is too low to flow downstream.
Record low snowpack was followed by a heat wave in March that served as a “knockout punch” for lack of runoff leading to the reservoirs, Jon Meyer, assistant Utah state climatologist, told ABC News.
“We’ve been monitoring how the dismal thin snowpack melts travel down through the watersheds, and how much reservoir recharge and stream flow we can expect this year,” Meyer said. “It is just exceedingly underperformed a normal situation.”
But this isn’t a situation caused by one bad snow year, Arizona State University’s White said, adding that the Colorado River system is operating under an increasingly warmer, drier climate.
The West had been dealing with a decades-long megadrought before atmospheric rivers in the winters of 2023 and 2024 inundated the region with enough moisture to cause extreme flooding and alleviate drought conditions. This is further evidence of hydroclimate whiplash — the rapid shift between wet and dry conditions — that has resulted from anthropogenic climate change, the experts said.
“This is a multi-decade-old drought, and then on top of that multi-decade-old drought are the impacts of climate change, which predominantly translate into higher temperatures, more variable precipitation, and drier soils and higher [water] demand,” White said.
The most recent low reservoir levels occurred in 2022, in which Lake Mead’s water levels reached a record low of around 1,040 feet, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
After that year, reservoir levels rebounded slightly due to aggressive conservation measures, especially from the lower basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada, White said.
The Colorado River system is integral for supplying water, power and watering the agricultural feeds that sustain the rest of the country, Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute said.
But the river system is over-allocated, according to Fleishman. The water rights were established during a period of the 20th century in which levels were “unusually high,” she noted.
“The Colorado River is emblematic of what the entire West is seeing this year with limited water supply and ramifications for hydropower generation, for irrigation, for water quality,” Fleishman said.
The Bureau is anticipated to issue a record of decision with the operational guidelines for 2027 and 2028, as well as a framework for 2029 through 2036.
The lower basin states have submitted an allocation plan for consideration, but there is not yet a consensus plan among all of the states, including the upper basin states, according to White.
“I think it’s fair to say no one is happy with it,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — Two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol in 2021 during the Jan. 6 attack are suing to stop the creation of President Donald Trump’s $1.7 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” calling it the “most brazen act of presidential corruption this century.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Committee chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill February 24, 2010 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Barney Frank, the former Massachusetts congressman who championed Wall Street reform and served as one of the first openly gay members of Congress, has died at 86, sources told ABC News.
The former U.S. representative served as chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee from 2007 to 2011 and was a leading co-sponsor of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which was enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Russian President Vladimir Putin walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People on May 20, 2026 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov – China Pool/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday, with the two leaders releasing a joint statement urging an end to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran as a matter of “utmost urgency.”
“The sides agree that military strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran breach international law and fundamental norms of international relations and seriously undermine stability in the Middle East,” the joint statement published on the Kremlin website said.
The statement stressed “the need for a return as soon as possible of the conflicting parties to dialogue and negotiations aimed to prevent the conflict zone from spreading and urged the international community to maintain an objective and impartial position, to assist de-escalation, and to defend the fundamental norms of international relations together.”
The two leaders also condemned what they called “treacherous military strikes against other countries, the hypocritical use of negotiations as cover for preparing such strikes, the assassination of leaders of sovereign states, the destabilization of the domestic political situation in these states and the provocation of regime change, and the brazen kidnapping of national leaders for trial.”
Moscow and Beijing have both been key partners for Tehran in recent years, as the U.S. and its European allies have sought to weaken the Islamic Republic through international sanctions and diplomatic isolation.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since 2022 prompted the fostering of deeper military and economic ties between Moscow and Tehran, with Iranian munitions — in particular Iranian-designed Shahed strike drones — playing a key role in Russia’s ongoing campaign.
China, meanwhile, remains a key customer of Iranian oil, with some analysts estimating that Beijing accounts for up to 90% of Tehran’s crude exports.
China has been pushing for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Iran, which began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes all across the country on Feb. 28. Beijing says it has been coordinating closely with Pakistan, which has emerged as a key mediator in as-yet unsuccessful peace talks between Washington and Tehran.
Following the meeting between Xi and Putin, both sides expressed support for the other’s “territorial integrity.”
Russia, Putin said — according to the Kremlin readout — “reaffirms its commitment to the One China principle and recognizes the existence of only one China. Taiwan is its integral part, and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing all of China.”
China, the readout said, “supports Russia’s efforts towards the provision of security, stability, national development, prosperity, sovereignty and territorial integrity and ‘opposes external interference in Russian internal affairs.'”
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
